River Market Brewing Company

March 24, 2008
Oh boy, where do I start? First, I offered to meet some locals here or at another brewpub, the other brewpub was heartily promoted. As I had the time, I decided to hit this place up myself. First off, the ok lighter beers were flat with no fatal flaws, but were boring. The dark beers were very poorly made with flavors that were way off and made them barely drinkable. The service for me was also bad. The waitress brought out my food after only a few minutes, when asked about it, she said that I was the only one with an order. It wasn’t my food! And no, they were not busy. Then I noticed that the majority of the people in there were dirnking bottled beer, I should have taken they visual cues. I am certainly never going to return and will warn others against this place. What a poor brewpub, and I am amazed as they actually have some competition, I just dont think they care.

June 29, 2007 [ Updated January 23, 2008 ]
I like this place, although in retrospect I’m not sure why. No one is ever there. The service is really crappy, which is even worse since the place is usually dead. I’d rate it lower than 1 if I could. The beer is decent, although only once out of the five times I asked did they have beer to-go available (if they even really looked). I want this place to survive, although I don’t know how they do. Worth a stop if you’re in the area, but be prepared for decent food, decent beer, and terrible service

February 7, 2007 [ Updated April 21, 2008 ]
This place has really gone down hill over the last six months. The last several times we have been the service was poor and slow the orders were wrong( medium rare filet cooked beyond well done) and the beer has gone from average to poor. The final nail in the coffin of this place could be that they recently lost their best bartender. It’s really too bad because this could be such a great place if the management would wake up.

December 26, 2005 [ Updated January 16, 2006 ]
Not as bad as people are making it out to be. Its a pretty typical brewpub. A great location though helps it in my mind. Has live music from time to time, and mostly yuppies living in thier lofts come down here. The beers are decent, didn’t have any food. Is it a world class beer bar? No. But no one is claiming it is, it is however fun to have a beer downtown/city market at a brewpub and not have to have the usual- I’ll take a bad micro over a standrard macro.

July 22, 2005
this place has gone downhill since I worked there (briefly) 4 yrs ago. the beers are average, equal or nearly so to Blvd, drinkable, and you can get a sample, try before you buy. the food is decent, as braudog said, try the humus, and the building itself (outside) is nice, old-kc. plus across from the city market. so, buy your fruits and veg in the morning, drink away the afternoon. still, you’d expect more focus on the brews than the food.

June 28, 2005
Very hit-or-miss. I’ve been going to River Market since it opened years ago, and it has undergone huge swings in quality, in regards to the menu, service and beer quality and selection. It has all averaged out to be just that, average. If you’re from out of town, I don’t recommend making a special trip here.

June 14, 2005
Don’t bother. Everyday offerings a average at best. Seasonaly aren’t much better. Food is okay. Same quality can be had elsewhere with better service. Not recommended.

June 12, 2005
Visited June 2005 on a Friday noon-time. Smoky and dingy despite the big picture windows. The service was flat-footed if not indifferent, the beers were average at utter best ... ate some hummus that was OK. Nowhere near the top of my places to stop in KC.